The other day I was tying my shoes and I got to thinking. Shoelaces seem to be stronger than they used to be. I can't even recall the last time I was tying a shoe and the lace broke. It was always when you were in a hurry, and as you gave that final tug, the lace snapped and often the side of your hand would snap back and smack you in the face. If you were really young, you'd get a sinking, almost afraid feeling and moan out loud: "Oh nooooooo......moooooom, my shoelace broke....." It was almost worth crying over.  If you were older, you'd simpy swear: "faaaak. My faaaaking shoelace broke. Fak."

Then you'd have to hastily unlace it a bit, usually through a few holes so that you'd have enough lace to tie a quick knot and then re-thread it, and man, nothing was worse than when you held your breath and gave it a hesitant and gentle tug, and poof, it didn't hold, and you had to start all over. Or, you had to run out with it not fixed properly and your shoe would be flapping off your foot as you did that limping sort of  gallop to catch up with your friends.

That hasn't happened to me in a long, long time.

Do you think they make better quality shoelaces these days? Why would that be? Everything else, and I mean everything is made cheaper and crappier nowadays. Other than shoelaces it seems. Is there a shoelace cartel that we don't know about? A shoelace mafia?

Or maybe I just don't have the upper arm strength that I used to. Who knew there would be a benefit to that? My shoelaces now last forever.

Traveller or Tourist?

 I am going to Peru. It's been on my bucket list since before I knew what a bucket list was. I'm pretty excited.

Someone made a comment along the lines of "We will be travellers, not tourists." And I really wanted to say something, but we are meeting in Lima as a group, and we'll be travelling a lot of the time together, so I certainly don't want to alienate myself from the group already. But this is my take on that sentence:

"Are you a traveller or a tourist?" I just don't buy into this argument. I think those words are  a distinction used by pretentious people to make themselves seem superior to others. As far as the locals of anywhere are concerned, it doesn't matter how long you have been on the road or what your mindset is, if you're not local....you're a tourist.

The definition of tourist is "Someone who travels for pleasure". The definition of traveller is "A person who changes location.". Same thing in the long run.

When you arrive somewhere, you are a tourist, no matter how long it took you to get there, or how you got there. Everyone has the right to arrive at their destination as they wish...be it by helicopter or chicken bus.

Staying in a cheap hostel, drinking local beer on the roof at night and eating local food from a street vendor with other people, be they local or from another place, does not make you any less a tourist...you are still someone visiting from another country. If your pillow is in a hut in a back alley or in a Hilton Hotel, you are still a tourist.

It's how travel is experienced that counts, it's what each of us gains from our own adventure that counts. Who is to say that what you enjoy needs to be the same as what I enjoy? Do you really think that locals care why we are there? Whether we are there for spiritualistic reasons, or materialistic reasons? If we want to shop at local markets or big name stores?  See famous sights or discover an unknown street?  They don't care....however you spend your time or money, you are still a visitor...a tourist...in someone else's country.

The important thing is to enjoy yourself, and to respect the place you are visiting. Enjoy their culture and see the sights you want to see.

So please, don't tell me that your adventure was better than mine or anyone else's because you are a "traveller, not a tourist". Once we leave our house, we are all the same.

This argument needs to die.